Did anyone try these in the end?
Everybody talked extensively about the GIEX ones but I don’t see anything about those. (the fact that they don’t seem to have a clear name certainly doesn’t help)
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Hi everyone!
Giex seems to have disappeared from AliExpress, and I can see equivalent no name products sold as “clearance sale”.
So far only one of my sensors have failed (older version), but it is not a good news.
In the meantime I had ordered twice from IHOMECAM Authorized Store
IHOMECAM Authorized Store - Amazing products with exclusive discounts on AliExpress a new device (the green in picture below) but was twice canceled 
Anyone did succeed to get one ?
I bought one in the end, but it’s not reading any moisture data through ZHA… So I cannot tell if they are any good.
BTW, some vendors list it as model “THE01860” and they are identified as TS0222 by _TZ3000_kky16aay zigbee devices.
I also bought a GiEx one ( TS0601 by _TZE204_myd45weu with black logo on top) , but moisture percentage is strangely very high and seems stuck at that level ever since I put it in soil.
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I did get 5 GieX’es from AliE but, as others reported, my readings are high as well. The measurements between them, when used in the same environment are between 84-94%. When the soil was almost too dry for the plants (as the leaves were starting the show signs of lack of watering), the lowest value reported by one of them was 72%, the others were around 80%. The sensors seem to be the latest batch (with black logo). I might try to get a Tuya hub to see if there’s any difference or perhaps a firmware upated, but I think that the best option at the moment in order to have as reliable readings as possible is DYI’ing a capacitive based sensore as explained at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGP38bz-K48.
Anyone tried one of these? Seem reasonably priced.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005007329498149.html?
According to the reviews it needs an external converter to work with z2m at the moment
That one (Zigbee model) is also sold at https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005007329498149.html
It is made by Tuya looks to be called Tuya Soil sensor _TZE284_aao3yzhs (TS0601 TZE284_aao3yzhs):
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Zigbee2MQTT (Z2M) developers already got it working → [New device support]: Soil sensor _TZE284_aao3yzhs · Issue #23455 · Koenkk/zigbee2mqtt · GitHub
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There seem to be no ZHA Device Handlers (quirks) for it as of yet → [Device Support Request] Plant Monitor SGS01Z · Issue #3305 · zigpy/zha-device-handlers · GitHub
From pictures it is a capacitive soil moisture sensor using TLC555 which I read is suppose to be good.
I have not bought it yet so not tested but the description sounds promising and the design seems nice, even if it might perhaps be a little basic feature-wise and maybe a little on the large size with it using two AAA-batteries but that should also make it have a long battery life (as long as you have enough Zigbee Router devices close to it for good reception).
The silicon cover on it look to have a very ugly blue color though, but perhaps they sell it in different colours or at least covers with other colors? not sure why they did not make the whole device all in white or better yet all in black to it does not stick out if used in an indoor flowerpot?
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005007329498149.html
Some posted these pictures in the review comments:
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This looks promising, and the price is not too steep.
Is there a rubber seal on the inside of the lid (picture only show outside), or is it only the blue thing that is supposed to make it watertight?
I have bought a dozen, one by one through Aliexpress, for an average 8€.
I am happy with then , as they give almost same values than the Giex , in a much smaller size, so I can use them in my interior’s plants .
Yes blue rubber cap is not the best idea, but there is no other choice, and you can get rid of them if you use automatic drop-by-drop watering
It needs a bluetooth small gateway, i have bought initially the one offered with the stuff. When discovering with tuya/smart life, you need to use bluetooth, then it offers to link it to the bluetooth gateway. So far, so good.
other zigbee models have occured, but i don’t have bought one yet (new and more expensives than the usual Giex-like that are back on Aliexpress)
Tuya Zigbee-Humidimètre de sol sans fil, température intelligente, humidité, testeur de lumière du soleil, analyseur Soli, outil de jardinage polyvalent
https://a.aliexpress.com/_EJaOYTr
Tuya Zigbee-Humidimètre de sol sans fil, température intelligente, humidité, testeur de lumière du soleil, analyseur Soli, outil de jardinage polyvalent
https://a.aliexpress.com/_Eyl6hzr
Back to this one , the green rounded one, I have got a first firmware update, from 1.00 to 1.07, but it is still problematic : values are very different, and even when feet dived in plain water it says 67% humidity… 
I’m interested to try the ZigBee version. Have you tried this or only the Bluetooth version?
Edit: sorry I’ve just read your next comment that you haven’t got the ZigBee version.
I’m going to buy one to test
Did you buy the Bluetooth variant instead of the Zigbee variant? I can find two models on Aliexpress.
Please note that this discussion is about Zigbee (hence thread title and clarifications in original post).
There at least looks to be a Zigbee native model (as well as a separate native Bluetooth model):
That page says at least that it uses Zigbee and that it requires a Zigbee Gateway from Tuya, and there are several customers in the comments there that written that they made it work with Zigbee2MQTT.
I do not see any seals on the inside of the device so I suppose it is that silicon cover that is meant to make is a little more “water resistant”, it does not look “watertight”.
I suspect and believe that this device must be specifically meant for indoor use only and not outdoors at all as that would require to meet a high IP (Ingress Protection) rating to protect the inner compoents from solids (i.e. dirt/dust) and liquids (i.e.water and other fluids).
Without any proper rubber seals at all I doubt it could an IP rating of anything better than IP51/IP52/IP53 or IP61/IP62/IP63, meaning that it could at best deal with water dripping and spaying but not more than that.
Without any proper rubber seals at all I doubt it could an IP rating of anything better than IP51/IP52/IP53 or IP61/IP62/IP63, meaning that it could at best deal with water dripping and spaying but not more than that.
That is a shame, I was thinking that these could replace the MiFlora devices I currently use on my balcony. They do survive outdoors, and some of them are regularly “drowned” when I pour water into the pot.
In another listing there is some images of it used without the cover:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005007443398328.html?
I think this is probably how I will use it.
I bought one of these, it pairs with ZHA but sadly the read-out does not seem to work. It’s recognised as a TS0222 by _TZ3000_t9qqxn70
Example:
Any pointers on how I can help to debug/improve support would be welcome!
There is an open issue to add this device for Z2M. Not sure about ZHA
This is the external converter:
[New device support]: Soil sensor _TZE284_aao3yzhs · Issue #23455 · Koenkk/zigbee2mqtt · GitHub
Has now been merged to 19.73.0:
If it pairs but ZHA do not expose all expected attributes as entities in Home Assistant then that mean someone need to code a custom ZHA Device Handler (a.k.a. quirk) for it, so if it looks like that then suggest you submit a device feature request as a new issue to the ZHA Device Handlers repository (a.k.a. the zha-quirks library) and hope that developers there can help out.
Once there is a custom quirk available for it from someone then you have to add it manually to ZHA locally until/unless they merge and include it with a bumped zha-quirks package. For more info about that see here:
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Just ordered two of these, will add to zha once I get them if someone else doesn’t beat me to it.
Ha ha I bought it with “ZigBee” but got the … Bluetooth version . As far as I know I have been trapped by this fake offer. But at least it works well in Bluetooth 
As I said previously, I use some without the blue rubber cap, as I have no risk to splash them with my drop watering.